Street Football / Street Sports

Northampton Street Sports Sessions take place in different venues across Northampton. The project began back in 2005 and we are into our 11th year, for more information on our history of the project click on link Milestones. All sessions are completely free and aimed at young people aged 8-18. Sessions are supervised by full qualified coaches, With a variety of Sports Ranging from Football, Basketball, dodgeball and much more, come down and try something new today.

Currently Northampton Street Sports runs in different areas across the town and is delivered for 50 weeks of the year (excluding Christmas). Below is a map showing the areas we currently working in using a football as a destination point.

Street Sports/Football Sessions.All sessions are 5:30pm-7:30pm

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Bellinge

Kings Heath

Blackthorn

Far Cotton Rec

Victoria Park

Rillwood Court

Racecourse

Eastfield Park

Briar Hill

Upton @ the elgar centre

Wootton Youth & Multi Sport Club

Thorplands

Spencer

Meet the Activators

Name: Johnny Yates

Title: Sport Delivery Development Officer

Sporting Milestone: British College Champions (Basketball)

Fav. Sport: Basketball/Football

Fav. Team: Arsenal FC/ Golden State Warriors

Sporting Hero: Steve Nash/Dennis Bergkamp

Activator Quote: “I Have failed over 1000 times, but that’s why I succeed”

Name: Luke Miller

Title: Street Sports Activator

Streey Games Location: Briar Hill

Sporting Milestone: Rowsley Running division Champion

Fav. Sport: Football, Tennis & Skiing

Fav. Team: Sheffield Wednesday FC

Sporting Hero: Lionel Messi

Activator Quote: “Set your goals high and don’t stop until you get there”

Name: James Richardson

Title: Street Sports Activator

Street Games Location: Rillwood Court, Blackthorn, Thorplands

Sporting Milestone: Winning a County Badminton Tournament at School

Fav. Sport: Football

Fav. Team: Arsenal FC

Sporting Hero: Thierry Henry

Activator Quote:

Name: Jack Harris

Title: Street Sports Activator

Street Games Location: Far Cotton & Spencer

Sporting Milestone:

Fav. Sport: Football and Cricket

Fav. Team: Northampton Town FC

Sporting Hero: Ronaldinho

Activator Quote:

Street Sports / Football Tournaments

Northampton Street Sports host free school holiday football tournaments for the participants of the weekly sessions. These tournaments are hosted in our three Door Step Areas; Northampton East, Northampton South and Northampton Central.

If you would like to be added to our mailing list email the project lead This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Street Sports/Football Tournaments:

New poster coming soon...

Tuesday 19th Feb 2019

Wednesday 20th Feb 2019

Thursday 21st Feb 2019

Tournament Results

Tournament results for October:

Tuesday Winners- Rillwood Court

Wednesday Winners- Blackthorn

Thursday winners- Far Cotton

Hall of Success

Street Games National Awards Winners!

Northampton Street Sports Project won The Matt Kendall Award, which recognizes the outstanding contribution that projects make to getting young people involved in sport and volunteering.

We are extremely proud to have won these awards and believe that this recognition demonstrates the fantastic opportunities that we are providing for young people in disadvantaged communities across Northampton. We are extremely passionate about what we do and we want more young people to benefit from our project

David Sibanda a Street Sports Activator on the project from Blackthorn who started as a participant nearly 10 years ago won the Coach of the Year Award.

Volunteer of the Year 2016/17

Volunteer of the Year goes to James Richardson. James has completed over 250 hours on the Street Sports project. Thoroughly deserved well done James!

From The Street to St James Park!

Check out some of our special talents that have developed from our Street Football project to become professional players

"I loved the fact that there was an organised session on my doorstep. My friends and I made an effort to get to it and improve. It was good to get together"

8) What do you think the programme does for young people in the Northampton?

"It’s great, the more you play the better your going to get. Its how I got started and its good exposure, you never know whose watching"

9) What would you say to young people in the local area about street football?

"Get out and play as much as possible, always learn new tricks and skills each day. Make sure whenever you play you give 100% but most importantly have fun and enjoy it!"

10) In one Word describe your experience of coming to street football?

"Fun!"

Jaanai Gordan - Peterborough / West Ham (Striker)

1) How long have you been playing football for?

"Since I was 4 years old"

2) What got you into football?

"My Cousins played and they were role models for me"

3) Who do you currently play football for?

"West Ham United"

4) Who was your sporting hero?

"Therry Henry and Didier Drogba"

5) What sessions of street sports did you come to?

"Racecourse and Malcome Arnold mostly"

6) Who was your coach?

"Gavin Lewis"

7) What was your favourite part of coming to street sports/football?

"Competing with friends and winning the festivals. The project gets young children active in sports and it kept me out of trouble"

8) What do you think the programme does for young people in the Northampton?

"Gives local people a chance to express themselves through sport"

9) What would you say to young people in the local area about street football?

"If you like sports especially football get yourself down to a local session or tournament and participate and hopefully win some medals"

10) Describe your experience of coming to street football?

"There will be ups and downs hopefully more ups and at the end of the day it will be rewarding if you work hard and enjoy it"

Sports Awards Success

Alex Wilson who volunteers on the project was winner at the Northampton Leisure Trust Sports Awards in the Young Leader of the Year category. He subsequently was runner up in the same category at the Northamptonshire Sport, County Sports Awards.

Pride of Northamptonshire Awards & Zimwomen Award

David Sibanda a coach and volunteer on the project was runner-up in the ‘Pride of Northamptonshire Awards’ held @ Wicksteed Park in September 2015. He was also successfully the winner of the Zimwomen Young Black Achiever’s Award.Northampton Street Football Project would like to say congratulations and well done to both volunteers. Thank you very much for volunteering at the Northampton Street Football Project. We are grateful for your time, patience and energy. Your support it is very much appreciate by the participants, myself and the management team at Northampton Leisure Trust. For more information on volunteering on the project please click here.

Street Sports / Football Milestones

2005

The project was awarded £150,000 through the Football Foundation. With the support of key partners the project launched and started delivering free and accessible football sessions in 3 areas of the borough.

2006

Due to the need and popularity of the project we expanded to 6 different areas of the borough.

In July Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service funded the creation of a Street Football Project in Briar Hill, funding was agreed for 3 years and was targeting activities to reduce arson. This was done in partnership with Northampton Borough Council and Northampton Town Football Club Football in the Community.

2007

The project increased delivery to 7 areas of the town. We also introduced community sports coaches to deliver the project.

The project linked the festivals to national initiatives Black history month and ‘kick racism out’ of football with the support locally from the Black Police association.

2008

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service published a case study stating that there had been a 69% reduction of deliberate fires in Briar Hill since the Street Football project began (data for August 2005 to July 2006 compared to August 2007 to July 2008).

Our under 16`s female team took part and won the BBC Your Game festival fair play award and was rewarded with a trip to Anfield to watch Liverpool v Man City.

The project started to deliver the Junior Football Organisers course, giving young leaders at the project the opportunity to gain a national recognised qualification.

2009

The Northampton Street Football project signed a service level agreement with National Charity ‘Street Games’ to support the project’s volunteer development programme

Our female team was invited to take part in the Streetgames tournament in Milton Keynes in which they won.

2010

The project increased delivery to 11 areas of the town, this was due to additional funds from external organisations such as Barclays Spaces for Sport.

Young leader Alex Tait from Blackthorn won the prestigious Northamptonshire Children and Young People`s Outstanding Contribution to Sports Award.

The JFO changed to JFL and project started to deliver these courses on their own (Street Football Officer – Trained to deliver courses).

Volunteer Charles Mutonga won the Street Games East Midlands young volunteer of the year award.

Our under 16`s male team took part and won the Streetgames East Midlands regional tournament.

Compass the statistics and data analysis arm of the Northampton Community Safety Partnership produced a report that, demonstrated the impact of the project on reduction of ASB in a number of areas.

2011

Northamptonshire County Council funded the Northampton Street Football Project to continue the delivery in the existing areas of the town.

Volunteer Charles Mutonga was shortlisted for the Northamptonshire Young People of the Year awards (YOPEY). He also became a member of the Street Games National Young Advisory Panel

Volunteer Dean Villette was shortlisted for Northampton Leisure Trust Sports Awards Volunteer of the Year

2012

The Northampton Street Project expanded to 14 sites due to funding through the Northampton Community Safety Partnership and Northamptonshire Police. Basketball sessions were also introduced to support the reduction of ASB. Times of sessions were altered due to this, giving more opportunities to take part in sport.

The project gained the inspired by London 2012 mark, with the coaches and volunteers getting the once in a lifetime opportunity to attend the Olympics games and watch a football match at Wembley Stadium.

2013

Northampton Community Safety Partnership published a report based on data analysis and information gathered from the Northampton Street Football Project. Key findings were that overall youth related crime was down.

Volunteer Abdulhalim Abdallad won the young black achievers award (sports category) at the Zimwomen Awards 2013

Both Dean Villette and Abdulhalim Abdallad reached the milestone of 100 hrs of volunteering at the Northampton Street Football Project as part of the Sport and Play volunteer recognition scheme

Working in partnership with NAYC and funded by a local cllr the project delivered music session as part of the weekly programme in the Standerns Barn area of the town

Thanks to funders Barclays Spaces for Sport, the Project had visits from England international cricket player Graeme Swain and the Barclays Premier League Trophy. The Project was also given tickets to the APT event in London where only the world top 10 tennis players compete

This year has also seen the project record throughput of attendances at the project of 13,000

2014

The project took 15 coaches, volunteers and external partners to visit St Georges Park in September 2014. The coaches were given a tour of the FA’s home of football development and coaches at St George’s Park gave a master class coaching seminar to the project coaches. They were also on hand to carry out a Q&A and allowed ourselves to utilise the facilities.

We signed a Service Level Agreement with Northampton Town Football Club, this was to mutually support one another and young people who participate in football locally. Coaches from NTFC will provide master classes for our coaches and Talent ID our participants.

The project delivered a JFL training course for 12 young leaders from Northampton, upskilling them with a nationally recognised qualification. The young leaders then supported the delivery of the project at weekly sessions and festivals.

Coach Development – The project support the coach development of 6 local volunteers by supporting them with places on the FA level one coaching qualification.

In partnership with the Golf Foundation we hosted a Golf training course for 12 local volunteers in ‘Street Golf’. Resources was then given to the project to deliver ‘Street Golf’ as part of our wider programme with links created to local clubs.

Local volunteer Alex Wilson was recognised for his commitment to volunteering by scooping the Northampton Leisure Trust Volunteer of the Year award and winning the Young Leader of the Year award at the prestigious Sports Awards. Alex then subsequently was recognised at the County Sports Awards by finishing a credible runner up in the Young Leader category

Local coach and volunteer David Sibanda was also recognised for his commitment to the project by winning the ‘Young Black Achiever’ award at the Zimwomen awards. He was also runner up in the pride of Northamptonshire awards which recognises young volunteers across and their commitment across the county.

A memorandum of understanding was signed with FFA to take over the running of the Racecourse sessions. FFA now kindly deliver session on behalf of the project with the project providing support to them and their coaches.

The project created a new partnership with the Police Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP). CAP have supported the project with resources to deliver session in the Kingsthorpe St Davids area of the town

Through our national partner Street Games we trained 7 volunteers and coaches on the UKCC Level 2 multisports course, this enabled capacity building and increased the support available to the project.

For more information about the Northampton Street Football Project please contact Northampton Leisure Trust's Street Football Officer Gavin Lewis on 01604 838458.

2016

2016 was another successful year for the Street Sports project in Northampton. A complete overhaul of staff in mid-2016 saw 9 new activators join the Street Sports squad. This year we saw some great success both on and off the MUGA. James Richardson who was previously a participant joined us as a volunteer and completed over 250 hours of voluntary work which lead to him being nominated as Volunteer of the Year for the Northampton Sports Awards and the Street Games National Awards. Due to his hard work and dedication James was also given the opportunity to complete his FA level one coaching qualification, which he did successfully and will now be joining us as an activator.

Alex Wilson and Chris Brown were also nominated for the Volunteer of the Year Award for the Street Games National Awards and the Northampton Sports Awards.

This year also marked the end of an era for the Street Sports project as long standing Sport Development Officer and project co-ordinator Gavin Lewis left the organisation. Gavin managed the project from its original launch but a late bid in the summer transfer window from Derby County FC saw him take his talents closer to home. We wish Gav all the best.

Another year goes on and Northampton Street Sports is looking forward to providing doorstep sports opportunities to the young people of Northampton for another year. Please don’t forget the dates of our Street Football Tournaments, check out our Facebook page and keep an eye out on twitter for important information! For more information about Northampton Street Sports please contact new Sport Delivery Development Officer Johnny Yates on 01604 837713

2017

Northampton Street Sports was successful again this year with winning two National awards. Coach David Sibanda was named Coach of the Year 2017 for his amazing work he has done with young people across our project. Also the project was awarded the Matt Kendal Award, an award given to a programme with outstanding youth development.

This year the project grew by adding a new strand to the programme. Prospects, a local employability group partnered with the project to run the Sports Employability course. A chance for NEET (Not in Education or Employment Teenagers) young people to learn about coaching while developing the skills needed to become employable.

Northampton Street Sports and Prospects Northamptonshire have joined forces to produce an amazing opportunity for NEET (Not in Education or Employment Teenagers) young people who are interested in sports. This is a huge chance to learn new key skills to be employable within a sporting capacity. Courses last for 6 weeks and are 3 hours long on one day a week. The programme is split into three areas including two types of workshops, one being on sport the other on employment skills such as interviewing and CV writing. Following two hours or concentration and hard work is a chance to express yourself through an open sports session.

If you are interested in this please keep an eye out on our website as new courses will be live soon with limited spaces available! For more information please contact the following:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.- Sport Delivery Development Officer

Please click on the link to see a relevant case study from the Northampton Street Football Project.

Below are links to case studies completed on the Street Sports programme, its coaches, volunteers and/or participants. We also have a short Video on some of the impacts the project has done while working in the community.